Face time still matters in job hunt

Follow up e-mails with personal touch

After submitting a formal application, consider making a phone call or drop pingby in person to try to get a foot in the door - provided it's done in a professional manner.

Photograph by: Thinkstock
, Postmedia News

Joanne Dial receives hundreds of unsolicited resumes by e-mail each month as director of human resources for Calgary-based Alter NRG Corp. Yet, few of them grab her attention.

"They have no value because I need the person," Dial says. "The purpose of the resume is to open the door to screening calls, which is to open the door to have a face-to-face meeting with the hiring manager."

She's impressed by people who take the initiative to follow up, research the company and its key people, who make a phone call or drop by in person to try to get a foot in the door - provided it's done in a professional manner.

"It's very important that people take the time for the human connection," she says. "The hiring decision will be based on the human connection."

Some recruiters say that in this age of "e-mail-only" resume collection and online job board and applicant submissions, the concept of face time gets lost in the virtual world.

Robert Gosine, managing partner in Calgary for Summit Search Group, says candidates who muster up the courage to make those sometimes-awkward phone calls or request a meeting directly with the person behind the hiring decision will stand out from the crowd.

"They're getting quite a few resumes that come their way and if you make the effort of going in person to a company that's hiring . . . it gives you a competitive advantage," Gosine says.

This past summer, his two university-aged children demonstrated the power of face-to-face meetings. His daughter graduated with a business degree and went door-to-door looking for a summer job. Within a few days, she had five offers. Friends and colleagues who relied only on submitting applications online and didn't follow up ended up receiving few calls or job offers. "It just shows right there how effective it really is," he says.

The key is to be respectful of their time, thank them and then zero in on what they're really looking for.

If you're not the right candidate, ask them what you could do to get a role like that.

"You get some market information out of it - all the kinds of things you're looking for to be more successful in your job search," Gosine says. You could even offer to take some courses after work to fill a skills gap - perhaps even creating a role while you upgrade some key skills if you're a good fit for the organization.

Study after study has shown the No. 1 reason people leave a job is because of their direct manager, so it makes sense that it's a high priority for both job applicant and hiring manager during the hiring process, Dial says.

David Litherland, managing partner in Vancouver

for Summit Search Group, says it's not that the younger generation is lazy, but rather they are so used to doing everything online that sometimes they forget - or haven't been exposed to - the importance of meeting a person face to face.

"While a company may say to only send a resume to this inbox, it's those candidates who can find a way to get in personally - find out who the actual hiring person may be - that gives an added check on their application," Litherland says.

"That initiative will be respected."

Call the hiring manager or a key human resources professional and ask for an information meeting to find out what positions may be coming available or to get more information about a specific posting and the requirements, he adds.

You can usually glean a lot of information from a company's website, including many sites that list biographies of key people, sometimes even with photos.

Perhaps you "stumble into them" at an industry event or simply pick up the phone and make a call.

The worst that can happen is that they decline an in-person meeting, but at least you have tried and your name may stand out when it comes time to go through the pile of resumes.

"It's anything you can do to get yourself a step ahead of the other applicants," Litherland says.

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